$1.5M in improvements help turn Heritage Green into urban park

Mar. 28, 2014

A slice of green on the side of a busy state highway just got a little greener.

Spruced up with new landscaping, sidewalks and signage, Heritage Green could now almost be mistaken for a park — the kind that invites people to come and explore.

The $1.5 million in improvements was paid for by county hospitality taxes and is part of a nearly $8 million master plan that will eventually connect the campus to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

“This is only the beginning,” said Bob Taylor, County Council chairman.

Colleagues from six institutions celebrated the new changes Thursday, gathering for a ribbon cutting and toast of sorts as they noted each other’s accomplishments.

Nancy Halverson, CEO of the Children’s Museum of the Upstate, said 145,000 people paid a visit to the 10th largest children’s museum in the world last year. Just recently, the museum was named a Smithsonian Affiliate, the only one of its kind.

A 15-foot statue of the museum’s logo, which Halverson referred to as “our big guy,” now sits out front on the lawn thanks to the recent facelift.

Beverly James, executive director of the Greenville County Library System, spoke of how the institutions collaborate in such a way that programs are created in support of multiple exhibits.

When the library hosted author Clyde Edgerton this summer, for instance, the Greenville Little Theatre followed up with a production of Edgerton’s novel, “Walking Across Egypt.”

“There are limitless possibilities for future collaboration,” James said.

Long-term plans for Heritage Green would include the construction of a cultural corridor, which could eliminate a traffic lane on Buncombe Street and add landscaping, on-street parking or public art down the length of downtown, according to City Councilwoman Amy Ryberg Doyle.

Doyle, who also serves on the board of the Children’s Museum, thinks of the campus as an urban park that could grow to include amenities for nearby neighborhoods.

Heritage Green could host food truck rodeos, Doyle said, and the space could be further activated with an amphitheater and water features described in the master plan.

“This is a wonderful place,” she said. “This fills the cracks of the soul of a community.”

No funding has yet been set aside to build the corridor, but the city is working with the state transportation department on feasibility studies, officials said.